Having a lot of trouble cleaning lately. Life has been stressful and I have managed work sleep and food, and ok levels of outside and social time but I am in a deep funk when it comes to house chores. See one thing, see a second and third, brain overloads and I sit scrolling. Or today I come home ready to start and crash out asleep.
This is all ok EXCEPT that having a cluttered not clean place is pulling my mental health down. Ugh…I have a big tub to dump in anything out of place so I can try to clear and clean. Wish me luck.
Unsolicited advice on emergency/exhaustion cleaning
When I get like this it can help to dump everything in the big tub just to be able to vacuum… but then you have to sort out the tub or it just sits there. But it gets it out of the way so you can do it later.
Another way to gradually and easily declutter is to hang a plastic or paper bag on a doorknob and throw in a single unwanted item anytime you happen to find one. (I kept one on the wardrobe handle to immediately take anything I tried to put on and then decided not to keep.) Then when the bag is full donate. You can have multiple through the house.
Clean laundry I just pile into the ‘clean’ basket to pull from as needed or shove handfuls of the appropriate clothing into each drawer. I don’t always have the ability to put things away but I can shove them in the ‘general correct area’ or ‘contained’ and move on to more urgent tasks. I can always put them away properly later if I have the opportunity.
Disinfectant wipes or baby wipes are good to wipe up something sticky before sweeping or quickly go over a dusty or dirty surface as a stopgap.
I still hate the countertop dishwasher I invested in because it doesn’t clean to my standards but that is currently being used as the alternative to having a pile of rotting depression dishes.
Before I’d fill the sink with boiling soapy water and everything dirty, let it soak until it was just tolerably hot to wash… but if not done that runs the risk of a sink full of swamp water.
Stick vacs are not always great compared to full sized vacs, especially cordless ones. Cordless battery ones can run down fast and be weak. But they also are a lot easier to just grab for a quick pass when you have 5 seconds worth of motivation. You can use them on hard floors too, just swipe over the whole area.
When I empty the bin and have to replace the bag, I often put on multiple bags at once while I’m already doing it. It sucks but that way the next time I lift out the rubbish it’s already lined again ready to go. If I don’t do that I procrastinate and rubbish starts piling up on the counter…
Buying roach baits or making them from a 50/50 mix of sugar and borax in tinfoil ‘bowls’ helps if you’re living in an area where they tend to invade.
Pottering around semi-aimlessly cleaning in one area can help. Doing it drunk or high may help (though I unfortunately can’t have substances).
You don’t have to get it all done at once either. You can do 10 minutes or UFYH has mini challenges. (Watch out for the ads on the site tho, yeesh. I need to update my adblocker.) https://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/
Also while high in sodium I always used to use tinned chunky soup as an emergency meal. Microwave in a bowl and serve with buttered bread, or even eat out of the tin if it’s that bad. Meat and veg with minimal cooking or cleanup
Thanks! I do a bunch of these but some are new and helpful. I need to declutter so have put tubs strategically around the place for stuff without a home. And luckily I don’t have roaches here (my 18months of German roach hell from living next to a hoarder still makes me gag). I just managed a good hour while on the phone to a friend. Gonna do floors then meal prep now
I’m glad some of it helped. I definitely spend my fair share of time in (not) cleaning hell. Trying to catch up now myself.
I can’t stand for too long but sometimes it helped to put my phone on a mini easel I got from ebay and watch/listen to something while I washed in short chunks. Strongly advise putting it somewhere it can’t fall into the sink tho. I put it on the kitchen windowsill but well to the side
Happens to lots of us. It’s called life. I find that putting on some headphones and listening to some upbeat music, or a podcast or audio book can make it less tedious and the time goes faster. But I know what you mean about starting. It’s sometimes hard to get motivated.
also, Mission Creep is something I have had to learn to stop
I know the other stuff needs to be done too, I can leave it until my next specific cleaning day, the seagoons will be alright in the meantime, the chore hasn’t been forgotten, there is a schedule
having a schedule for each room has really helped me . So now I just say, I know this hall area is a bit of a mess but it can wait until Wednesday, which is laundry and hallway day , eg Today I am just going to do the living and dining room.
I want to have a schedule but life has been chaotic with long work days and other health issues making me exhausted so I am trying to just do one thing every day even if tiny. Otherwise I feel terrible that I have broken the schedule 😔 thanks.
when the young seagoons were here it was chaos and my schedule was in disarray
I learnt that having a schedule previously was really good because it wasn’t chaos layered on chaos, it was just normal chaos, it didn’t matter that life events took over for a bit
so this is life events, you are doing the important things and coping really well 👍😊😸😻🫂😘
Having a lot of trouble cleaning lately. Life has been stressful and I have managed work sleep and food, and ok levels of outside and social time but I am in a deep funk when it comes to house chores. See one thing, see a second and third, brain overloads and I sit scrolling. Or today I come home ready to start and crash out asleep.
This is all ok EXCEPT that having a cluttered not clean place is pulling my mental health down. Ugh…I have a big tub to dump in anything out of place so I can try to clear and clean. Wish me luck.
It happens. You work full time. Give yourself a break. And it’s f’ing hot.
I wish you luck 🤞
Thanks mate. I appreciate it
I feel you.
Unsolicited advice on emergency/exhaustion cleaning
When I get like this it can help to dump everything in the big tub just to be able to vacuum… but then you have to sort out the tub or it just sits there. But it gets it out of the way so you can do it later.
Another way to gradually and easily declutter is to hang a plastic or paper bag on a doorknob and throw in a single unwanted item anytime you happen to find one. (I kept one on the wardrobe handle to immediately take anything I tried to put on and then decided not to keep.) Then when the bag is full donate. You can have multiple through the house.
Clean laundry I just pile into the ‘clean’ basket to pull from as needed or shove handfuls of the appropriate clothing into each drawer. I don’t always have the ability to put things away but I can shove them in the ‘general correct area’ or ‘contained’ and move on to more urgent tasks. I can always put them away properly later if I have the opportunity.
Disinfectant wipes or baby wipes are good to wipe up something sticky before sweeping or quickly go over a dusty or dirty surface as a stopgap.
I still hate the countertop dishwasher I invested in because it doesn’t clean to my standards but that is currently being used as the alternative to having a pile of rotting depression dishes.
Before I’d fill the sink with boiling soapy water and everything dirty, let it soak until it was just tolerably hot to wash… but if not done that runs the risk of a sink full of swamp water.
Stick vacs are not always great compared to full sized vacs, especially cordless ones. Cordless battery ones can run down fast and be weak. But they also are a lot easier to just grab for a quick pass when you have 5 seconds worth of motivation. You can use them on hard floors too, just swipe over the whole area.
When I empty the bin and have to replace the bag, I often put on multiple bags at once while I’m already doing it. It sucks but that way the next time I lift out the rubbish it’s already lined again ready to go. If I don’t do that I procrastinate and rubbish starts piling up on the counter…
Buying roach baits or making them from a 50/50 mix of sugar and borax in tinfoil ‘bowls’ helps if you’re living in an area where they tend to invade.
Pottering around semi-aimlessly cleaning in one area can help. Doing it drunk or high may help (though I unfortunately can’t have substances).
You don’t have to get it all done at once either. You can do 10 minutes or UFYH has mini challenges. (Watch out for the ads on the site tho, yeesh. I need to update my adblocker.) https://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/
Also while high in sodium I always used to use tinned chunky soup as an emergency meal. Microwave in a bowl and serve with buttered bread, or even eat out of the tin if it’s that bad. Meat and veg with minimal cooking or cleanup
Thanks! I do a bunch of these but some are new and helpful. I need to declutter so have put tubs strategically around the place for stuff without a home. And luckily I don’t have roaches here (my 18months of German roach hell from living next to a hoarder still makes me gag). I just managed a good hour while on the phone to a friend. Gonna do floors then meal prep now
I’m glad some of it helped. I definitely spend my fair share of time in (not) cleaning hell. Trying to catch up now myself.
I can’t stand for too long but sometimes it helped to put my phone on a mini easel I got from ebay and watch/listen to something while I washed in short chunks. Strongly advise putting it somewhere it can’t fall into the sink tho. I put it on the kitchen windowsill but well to the side
Happens to lots of us. It’s called life. I find that putting on some headphones and listening to some upbeat music, or a podcast or audio book can make it less tedious and the time goes faster. But I know what you mean about starting. It’s sometimes hard to get motivated.
luck 🍀
also, Mission Creep is something I have had to learn to stop
I know the other stuff needs to be done too, I can leave it until my next specific cleaning day, the seagoons will be alright in the meantime, the chore hasn’t been forgotten, there is a schedule
having a schedule for each room has really helped me . So now I just say, I know this hall area is a bit of a mess but it can wait until Wednesday, which is laundry and hallway day , eg Today I am just going to do the living and dining room.
I want to have a schedule but life has been chaotic with long work days and other health issues making me exhausted so I am trying to just do one thing every day even if tiny. Otherwise I feel terrible that I have broken the schedule 😔 thanks.
one thing everyday is very good 😊👍
when the young seagoons were here it was chaos and my schedule was in disarray
I learnt that having a schedule previously was really good because it wasn’t chaos layered on chaos, it was just normal chaos, it didn’t matter that life events took over for a bit
so this is life events, you are doing the important things and coping really well 👍😊😸😻🫂😘
Agreed, I just prioritise rubbish,
litter trays, dishes, anything that will smell or attract bugs. Those need quicker action than folding or ironing